Guido Music Notation

Guido Music Notation (GMN) is an ASCII-text based music representation. GMN can be converted to graphical music notation using several programs. The website noteserver.org provides an online method of generating music graphics which are easy for generating musical examples for web pages. This lab introduces the basic musical components present in GMN. More information on the GMN data format can be found in the Basic Guido Music Notation Specification: salieri.org/GUIDO/docu/spec1.htm.

Simple Example

Below is a simple musical example in GMN. The text on the left is the musical data in GMN format which is converted to graphical music notation, using Noteserver, on the right.

[c d e f]

Create your own graphical notation

To generate graphical music notation from GMN, you can use several methods:

1. Go to the website noteserver.org and enter the GMN data into the form on the main webpage, or follow the directions for URL based GMN data.
2. Download and run the Guido NoteViewer Program program for Windows: http://www.noteserver.org/download.html
3. Download GIde which is a Guido Music Editor where music can be edited graphically or as text: http://www.salieri.org/GUIDO/impl.html
4. Notability Pro music notation software for OS X: http://debussy.music.ubc.ca/~opus1/NoteAbility/NAwelcome.html
5. Plugins for Sibelius and Finale are available from the webpage: http://www.salieri.org/GUIDO/impl.html

Enter the simple example into one of the programs which processes GMN data.

Octave

The octave of a note is indicated by a number following the pitch name. Octave 1 is the octave starting at middle C (C4), and going up through the note B4. One octave higher than middle C is octave 2, and octave 0 is one octave lower than middle C. The octave below 0 is -1, which is indicated like this: c-1.

[b0 c1 b1 c2 b2 c3 b3]

Note that the octave is sticky. If you do not specify an octave value for the following note, then the preceeding octave value will be applied to the next note. See what happens when you generate the graphical information for the following GMN data:

[c1 c c2 c c3 c]

Accidentals

Chromatic alterations are indicated by a sign after the diatonic note name and before any octave indication. Sharps are indicated by a pound sign (#) and flats are indicated by an ampersand (&). Double sharps/flats are indicated by the doubling the accidental sign as shown in the following example.

[c# d& e f## f&&]

Notice in the above example that the note E does not have an accidental attached to it. Unlike octave indications, accidentals are not sticky. Accidentals only affect the note to which they are attached.

Duration

So far, all graphical notes have had the duration of a quarter note, which is the default duration when none is specified. To indicate a different rhythm, indicate it after any octave indicator by writing a slash (/) followed by the duration of the note in terms of divisions per whole note:

rhythm code whole note 1 half note 2 quarter note 4 eighth note 8 sixteenth note 16 thiry-second note 32

[c/1 c d/2 d e/4 e f/8 f g/16 g a/32 a]

Notice that the duration information is sticky just like the octave information. If a duration is not specified, then the duration of the previous note is carried over to the next note.

Augmentation dots

[ c c. c c.. c]

Try the following example and notice how the dots and the rhythms interact, i.e., what are the rhythms of the following six notes? How do the dots affect the rhythm in the graphical notation? What is the rule for dot stickiness?

[ c/4 c c. c c. c/4 ]

Rests

[ _/1 _/2 _/4 _/8 _/16 ]

Clefs

[ \clef<"g2"> c d e f \clef<"f4"> c d e f ]

Time Signature

[ \meter<"4/4"> c d e f/8 g ]

Key Signature

[ \meter<"4/4"> \key<-2> c d e& f/8 g ]

{| width="100%"

|

[ \key<-2> \meter<"4/4"> c d e& f/8 g ]

| |}

Barlines

[ \meter<"2/4"> c/2 d e f g a ]

{| width="100%"

|

[ c/2 \bar d \bar e \bar f \bar g \bar a ]

|- | |}

Slurs

[ c \slur( d e f ) g a ]

Ties

[ c d \tie( d d d ) d e f g a ] [ c d \tieBegin d d d \tieEnd d e f g a ]

Chords

{, }gc2{| width="100%" |

[ {c,e,g} {e,g,c2} {g,c2,e2} ]

| |}

Beaming

[ c/8 d e f g a b c2 ]

\beamsOff{| width="100%"

|

[ \beamsOff c/8 d e f g a b c2 ]

| |}\beam(){| width="100%" |

[ \beamsOff c/8 \beam( d e f ) g a b c2 ]

| |}

Articulations

Staccato {| width="100%" |

[ \stacc(c) d \stacc(e f g) ]

| |}

Systems

{, }{| width="100%" |

{ [ c d e f g], [ \clef<"f4"> g0 f e d c ] }

| |}

Expressions

\intens<>\i<>{| width="100%" |

[ \intens<"mf"> c2/2 \i<"pp"> d1/2]

| |}\cresc()\dim()\crescBegin\crescEnd\dimBegin\dimEnd{| width="100%" |

[\cresc(a/8 g f e) \dimBegin c e g c2 \dimEnd]

| |}

Full GMN Specification

http://www.informatik.tu-darmstadt.de/AFS/GUIDO/doc.html

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Exercises

1. Enter the above examples at NoteServer.org (or another program which processes GMN data) and try modifying them.
   
   
2. Write down the GMN representation which can create the following graphical music:
   
   
3. Convert your GMN data into graphical music. Compare your graphic representation with the above version. What are the similarities and differences between the two versions?
   
   
4. Create a title to a musical example in Guido Music Notation, such as the following example:
5. All of the musical examples on this page end with a double final bar which is the default style for the Guido NoteServer. Figure out how to specify no final bar, such as in this example: File:Example2.gif
6. Input a melody of your choice in Guido Music Notation and convert it to graphical notation.
   
   
7. What advantages/disadvantages might GMN have for inputting music manually. What about for parsing/processing with a computer?
   
   
8. Extra Credit: Write a program which automatically generates a melody and outputs into the Guido Music Notation format. See the webpage henon.sapp.org for an example.